RESUMES

The Insider s Guide

FOR
INTERNAL

Resumes

JOB SEARCH

Whats Inside
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Rapid Resume Development........................................................3
Challenges & Solutions..........................................................................3
WHY YOU NEED A RESUME
What Makes Your Internal Resume Different...................................................4
Sell It, Dont Tell It...............................................................................................5
GETTING STARTED
The Basics..........................................................................................................6
Choosing Your Format.......................................................................................7
The DOs & DONTs of Writing Your Internal Resume.......................................8
CREATING YOUR RESUME
Writing The Heading.........................................................................................9
Writing Your Professional Objective................................................................ 10
Writing Your Summary Statement.................................................................... 11
Writing Your Employment History................................................................... 12
Writing Your Accomplishment Statements..................................................... 14
Insider Tip.............................................................................................. 14
Start Strong........................................................................................... 15
Writing Your Education, Credentials & Certifications..................................... 16
Writing Other Potentially Important Parts....................................................... 17
RESUME SAMPLES
Internal Resume Sample 1.............................................................................. 18
Internal Resume Sample 2 ............................................................................ 20
LAST WORDS
Checklist for Creating Your Resume...................................................22

Click on this icon throughout the book to see expanded information!

Resumes

Introduction
Welcome to Rapid Resume Development
If youre hoping to land a job within another area of your organization, youre going to need a resume
and quick.
As an internal candidate, your resume is every bit as important as that of someone from the outside. Every
company will have its own set of guidelines when applying, but one of the first steps will almost assuredly
be to provide your resume in a format that works for your particular company.
Your resume will then go through the channels as the marketing brochure of you and your talents. Its
vitally important that it shows your strengths and accomplishments in a way that you have been and will
continue to be an asset to the company.

The Challenge: To Position Your Significant Accomplishments to Match

the Internal Job
Solutions:
1

Read the job description closely and see how your talents will match what the organization is
looking for.

Think of all your inherent talents that you may even take for granted and how they would help you
succeed in the new position. There are skills and competencies you possess that could transfer to a
new opportunity.

The Challenge: To Capture Your Experience at the Right Level Not Too Much Detail
Solutions:
1

Get your point across as concisely as possible.

Focus on your contributions to your current employer.

Use the minimalist approach for past positions.

Resumes

Why You Need A Resume

As an internal candidate, you may question why a resume is even needed especially if you know the
interviewer. But it is an essential part of the process to show specific details of your accomplishments, as
well as reveal unknown talents. The resume gives you the opportunity to show how you can benefit the
company in a different role.
The resume also does the following:
Serves as your primary marketing tool within the company.
Provides a basis for creating your social media profiles and branding.
Could provide a link to your online resume.
Helps the interviewer remember you and your qualifications.
Could be scanned into the company database for future openings.
Gives structure to the actual interview.

What Makes Your Internal Resume Different

Chances are youve already done a resume at some point in your career. If youre applying for an internal
position, your last resume was probably for your current employer. But dont think that you can simply add
your companys name to your list of employers and be done. Try to do the following:
Craft your resume in a way that sells yourself for an entirely new position.
Step back and look at yourself and your resume in a different light.
Recreate yourself and your branding for this new position.
Communicate your potential effectiveness in the new role.

Resumes

Sell It, Dont Tell It

In writing the internal resume, the challenge is to prove that your talents and abilities go beyond the job you
currently hold at the company. You need to get the manager past his/her impression of you as a (fill in
your job title).
So its important that you dont just tell it and simply state the facts. You need to sell it, promote it and
draw attention to it.
See the difference in these examples:
Tell It ...

Sell It

Set up PCs for newly-hired sales and service staff.

Installed more than 200 PCs and implemented

customized applications to support nationwide sales
and service staff. Provided ongoing troubleshooting
and technical support that reduced PC downtime by
48% over a one year period.

Supervised construction of a four acre chemical

manufacturing facility.

Directed team of 42 responsible for $4.8 million

construction of four acre manufacturing facility.
Delivered project at 20% under budget.

Although youre being interviewed by someone at your company, they may not know the true impact youve
had within your organization. Selling yourself with this type of detail shows youre overall a good hire and
could bring something to the table even in a new role.

Resumes

Getting Started
The Basics
Advance to Go: If youre a veteran resume writer and know the basics, then youre ready to go. Skip ahead
to the Creating Your Resume section, which starts on page 9.
Heres a quick review of the basics:

The Paper

Use basic 8 x 11 inch paper that is either white or ivory. A little heavier paper
stock is preferred. Consider buying this paper from an office supply store that sells
paper specifically designed for resumes. You can also take it to a print shop for
reproduction on high quality paper.

The Typestyle

Use basic fonts that are clean, conservative and easy to read, such as Arial,
Tahoma, Verdana, Courier or Times New Roman, with the standard size of 10
to 12 points.

The Margins

Adjust the margins to one inch on all sides. Change the justification so the text is left
aligned (although your heading style may vary).

The Length

Keep it to one or two pages of tight, concise writing. Make every word count. On the
top of the second page, include your name, phone and email.

Proofreading

Make sure your resume is free of typographical, grammar and punctuation errors.
Even if youre good at proofreading, find someone else who is good at proofreading
and ask them to review it.

Resumes

Choosing Your Format

There are two most common types of resumes:
Chronological Resume: Most frequently used and accepted.
Functional Resume: Designed to stress your qualifications with less emphasis on specific employers
and dates.
As an internal interviewer, the chronological resume would work best in most cases since it can be
structured to focus on your current job and company. In this format, you will list your work experience in
reverse chronological order. Then provide clear information on:
Job titles.
Areas of responsibility.
Periods of employment for each employer.
Accomplishments that are clearly tied to companies and time frames.
In the Chronological format, these would be the
categories of your resume:
Heading
Professional Objective (optional)
Summary
Employment
Education
Other possible additions:
Skills

Resumes

If you were to use a Functional format, you would

emphasize skills, not titles. Keep in mind these
categories of your resume:
Heading
Professional Objective (optional)
Summary
Professional Skills
Employment
Education
Other possible additions:

Memberships

Memberships

Certifications

Certifications

The DOs and DONTs of Creating Your Internal Resume

DOs
Use key words and phrases appropriate to your current company.
Highlight your work history selectively, specifically drawing attention to your current job at the company.
Avoid using I in your statements. Begin sentences or phrases with action words.
Include the link to your LinkedIn profile.
Keep the resume to one or two pages. If you use a second page, be sure it is longer than a couple of
paragraphs.
Devote more space to your current job.
Post the profile of your resume in the companys talent management system.

DONTs
List references or use the phrase References available upon request.
Use abbreviations. (Use professional or technical jargon only if it is relevant to the position and common
terminology within the company.)
Use odd-sized paper, overly fancy stock, color, style or font or anything considered eccentric or difficult
to scan.
Leave gaps between employment dates.
Overemphasize your educational background. Youre selling your work experience rather than your
academic record.
Have conflicting information on your resume and LinkedIn profiles.

Resumes

Creating Your Resume

Now lets begin the actual writing process. In this section, we examine each individual part of the resume
and how you need to adapt it for your internal audience. Two important tips before you delve in:
Dont be overly concerned about making it perfect the first time around. Its far better to move
swiftly through the process and get the basic information organized rather than agonize about the
perfect phrase or ideal formatting. After youve completed a draft, you might be surprised at how
close to final it is.
Surveys have consistently shown that most employers and recruiters read resumes in only 10 to
30 seconds. The more unnecessary words you include in the resume, the more likely it is that the
important information wont get read at all. So keep it short and concise.

Writing The Heading:

For an internal resume, something as simple as writing your name could vary. For an internal audience, you
should use the name by which you like to be called. Dont leave the interviewer possibly guessing about
your real identity.
The other internal nuance would involve your telephone number. Youll want to include all your contact
numbers home, cell and even your work number with the extension. Dont make the interviewer go
through the extra step of looking you up in the company directory.
Youll also want to include both your email address at work and at home (for internal interview only).
Make sure your home email sounds professional.
Also, make sure you list the physical address of your home even if you receive your mail at a post office box.

Heading Sample:
Jerry McGuire
2020 Telegraph Blvd.
Royal Oak, MI 48068

Resumes

jerrym@email.com
jerrym@email2.com

Cell: 555-555-5555
Office: 555-555-5555 (ext. 555)

Writing Your Professional Objective

The professional objective (sometimes called a career objective) is optional on a typical resume, but
consider adding it to your internal resume if youre switching gears on your job path. If the new job function
is totally different from what you did previously, then you need to communicate your new objective.
Give a concise statement of what you want to do. It will help keep your resume consistent and focused on
your new career goal.

Professional Objective Samples:

Resumes

Obtain a position at XYZ Company where I can maximize my management skills, quality
assurance, program development and training experience.

Customer Service position utilizing my extensive professional experience and knowledge of the
companys elite line of products.

Human Resources Manager position where my experience and background in training

manufacturing teams on processes and procedures can enhance hiring decisions.

10

Writing Your Summary Statement

As an internal candidate, your summary statement will be vitally important in conveying that youre
multi-dimensional and not just a fit for the job you previously had. Youll have to carefully craft this summary,
which should encapsulate the experience, areas of expertise and technical or professional skills detailed in
the body of your resume.
The summary statement needs to correlate to the posted job description. Examine the particular wording
and key words. Do your skills match the major talents that the new department is seeking?
Then work these key words into your summary statement. Even in an internal scenario, some companies
may put resumes through automated applicant tracking systems (ATS), which will weed out applicants who
dont have enough key words listed. So if youre an honest fit for the job, make sure the company knows it.
As the first major section on the resume, the summary statement needs to grab the interviewer right away. It
needs to give them a strong reason to read more.

Summary Statement Samples:

1

Highly experienced call center Applications Specialist with extensive background in

transportation, telecommunications information, high-tech, hospitality, healthcare and computer
market segments. Assisted with implementation, support and administration of mission critical
information systems technology projects, involving telecommunications networks, call center
technologies, data networks, voice processing systems, applications programming and systems
configuration. Hands on experience with:
Advanced ICM Administration

Cisco Collaboration Server

Cisco E-Mail Manager

Cisco VoIP

Nortel Database and ACD

Resumes

Results-oriented Design Engineer with extensive experience in high-performance digital signal

processor (DSP) design, analysis and test procedures. Proficient knowledge of flow creation, test
plan coverage, timing analysis and design integration. Managed multiple design assignments
concurrently with an emphasis on software tools support. Quick learner and extremely adaptable
to ongoing challenges.

Seasoned project manager with 5+ years of marketing communications experience and

knowledge of design obtained from positions in educational publishing, consumer packaging
and website design. Professional, flexible, creative and service-oriented. Offer a unique
combination of creativity and analytical skill with the ability to manage teams to create
cost-effective solutions for internal and external clients.

11

Writing Your Employment History

Your employment history includes three parts:
1

EMPLOYER

DATES EMPLOYED

YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Employer: Your current employer gets top billing in the chronological resume, which makes it work so well
for the internal resume. Your other employers should follow with most recent first.
Dates: Typically, you would include only the years you worked at a company and not the month (for
instance, 2005-2012 . not March 2005-April 2012). When creating the internal resume, however, you
should make an exception and list the exact month and date you started. It will certainly help your manager
in his evaluation process.

Resumes

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Employment History Sample:

CURRENT COMPANY, Eugene, OR

MONTH, YEAR-PRESENT

Director of Advertising Marketing

Oversaw successful development of all marketing collateral in support of national advertising sales
staff, including media kits, direct mail, press releases, reader surveys, sales presentations and trade
show materials. Hired and trained staff. Developed and managed budget of $1 million.
Created and directed the completion of more than 300 projects annually.
Developed methods for increasing department output by 50% with no additional personnel
through implementation of projection calendar, cross marketing and project tracking systems.
Spearheaded purchase, design and signage of companys first trade show booth and
dramatically increased companys brand and presence in industry.
Initiated and staged annual five-day national sales meetings at various domestic and
international destinations.
Enhanced corporate image within the industry and beyond through high-quality, contemporary
creative materials.
Hired and groomed marketing coordinators; 60% of whom were eventually promoted to
management positions.
Assumed management of marketing activities for three additional divisions.
Designed and presented seminars titled How to Write Sizzling Sales Letters to enhance sales
representatives ability to boost advertising buys.
COMPANY, Eugene, OR
(include a 1-2 line description about companies other than your current one)

YEAR-YEAR

Marketing Director
Directed all marketing efforts for trade show and Association Management Company. Clients included
Fortune 500 professionals engaged in technology and engineering.
Created all concepts and wrote all copy single-handedly to promote over a dozen magazine
titles.

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Writing Your Accomplishment Statements

Youll need to develop your accomplishment statements the big sales pitch for why you should be rehired.
When deciding what to include, try to focus on the big things, and give a broad-based view of what youre
responsible for. Save the little things for the interview.
The majority of your accomplishment statements at your current employer even as many as
6-8 are not too many.
List only the most significant accomplishments at your previous employer. One or even none will
suffice, especially for the earliest positions in your career.
Use action verbs to start your statements (never I). Then incorporate numbers and percentages to
reinforce what youre saying.
Insider Tip:
Accomplishment statements are a critical part of your resume. Spend adequate time developing them. If
done correctly, they will prove that youve done great things in the past for this company and have
the ability to do even more if given the opportunity.

Resumes

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Accomplishment Statement Samples:

These are divided into four major areas to help as a guide, but dont be limited by these categories. Fully
express your value wherever it exists.

Quantity

Quality

Productivity

Cost/Revenue

Developed a sales strategy

that directly increased the
customer base by 20%.

Designed a new training

program that resulted
in an improvement in
evaluations from 3.2 to 4.8 on
a five-point scale.

Automated a claim
processing system that
reduced the turnaround time
from two weeks
to two days.

Negotiated a contract that

saved the department
more than $500,000.

Instituted a training program

that contributed to a 35%
reduction in errors.

Successfully conducted a
presentation for key project
stakeholders. Unsolicited
feedback was
overwhelmingly positive.

Implemented a new phone

system that reduced the
average answering speed from
eight minutes to less than
one minute.

Increased asset base from

$17 million to $53 million.

Developed a safety program

that reduced accident
fines by 15%.

Hired a new printing firm that

improved quality of the
marketing materials.

Completed the renewal project

two months ahead of
schedule, resulting in a major
client contract.

Reduced overhead by 30%.

Redesigned the production

line, increasing daily output
by 2,000 units.

Designed a user-friendly
operations manual that is
currently being used
by employees.

Developed and introduced a

unique product that was the first
in the marketplace.

Developed a new product

that increased quarterly
revenue by $50,000.

Start Strong
Youll notice that each of the above accomplishment statements begin with strong action verbs.
Here are a few other effective sentence openers:

Resumes

achieved

administered

analyzed

appraised

automated

balanced

budgeted

changed

centralized

coached

collaborated

compiled

completed

computed

created

decided

demonstrated

determined

discovered

ensured

established

expedited

finalized

furnished

generated

guided

handled

helped

identified

innovated

introduced

invented

launched

learned

leveraged

listed

managed

merged

motivated

negotiated

obtained

operated

planned

positioned

prepared

raised

researched

selected

solved

supported

taught

trained

transferred

unified

upgraded

wrote

15

Writing Your Education, Credentials and Certifications

Your education is an important part of the package youre selling. Make sure you convey it entirely and
succinctly to the hiring manager. List your education completely, including the degrees that youve received.
If youve recently taken classes outside of work, make sure those are prominently included. Listing the
actual dates of graduation is optional.
Sample 1:
EDUCATION:
MBA, Finance and Management, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ
BSBA, Accounting and Marketing, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Selected courses at: Center for Creative Leadership, Harvard Business School,
Wharton School of Business and University of Florida College of Law

Sample 2:
EDUCATION:
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, Gainesville, FL
BS, Business Administration
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, Eugene, OR
Dual Majors in Business Administration & Computer Science (2 years)

Sample 3:
EDUCATION:
ELMHURST COLLEGE, Elmhurst, IL
BA, Business, Supply Chain Management

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Writing Other Potentially Important Parts

If youve had specialized training or earned certifications, especially while at your current company, you may
want to include them. It shows initiative and that youre continually trying to improve your abilities. If you
have specific skills pertinent to the position youre applying for, also list those.
Sample 1:
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Business Process Modeling
Database Expertise
Messaging/Communications
IT Architecture
IT Security
Data Mining
IT Optimization
Web Development

Sample 2: (Note: In the following example, youll want to include the dates only if they were fairly
recent awards or show consistency year-after-year.)

AWARDS
Presidents Award, YEAR
Employee of the Year Award, YEAR

Sample 3:
ASSOCIATIONS
American Society of Training and Development (ASTD)
American Translators Association (ATA)

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Internal Resume Sample 1

NAME
Street
City, State, Zip

Home email
Work email

Phone 1
Phone 2

SUMMARY
Experience in the areas of Computer Operations, Information Systems and Production/Problem Management.
Proven successes in resolving production problems in batch job and billing processing. Comprehensive
Information Technology background in the area of Software Application Support, Production Support and Quality
Assurance, utilizing strong analytical and problem solving skills.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
COMPANY, City, State

MONTH,YEAR-PRESENT

Senior System Analyst

YEAR-YEAR

Third level investigator for traffic call processing related billing problems. Investigated, analyzed and coordinated
the correction of software (COBOL) related call-processing problems with software developers/technicians.
Coordinated the resolution of over 30 problems with a total recovered revenue of over $3 million.
Provided project management for error suspense purge initiative, which resulted in a 62% reduction in
billable purged calls and recovery of over $36 million.
Created process/procedure documentation for use in training and reference.
Performed duties as Functional Coordinator for Change Management.
Performed department System Security Administrator duties (RACF2).
Processed software migrations (ENDEVOR) for new program releases.

Production Control Problem Manager/Group Leader

YEAR-YEAR

Tracked and trended batch related problems (System & User ABENDS, JCL and Return Code failures).
Created reports utilizing a host of software utilities to provide statistics to support findings.
Utilized information obtained from these reports. Department successfully reduced ABEND rate
by 50%.

COMPANY, City, State

YEAR-YEAR

Company Description (include a 1-2 line description about companies other than your current one)
Production Control Technician
Monitored batch job flows. Resolved JCL and System ABEND related problems.
Scheduled batch job processing, utilizing CA7 and CA11 automated job scheduler.

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NAME

EMAIL

Page Two

EDUCATION
Computer Science Studies - University of the District of Columbia, CITY, STATE
Computer Science Information Systems Studies - University of Maryland, CITY, STATE
C++ Course - Colorado Technical University, CITY, STATE
Operator Development Program - COMPANY

COMPUTER RELATED SKILLS/COURSES

COBOL
SAS Point & Click
File-Aide
JCL
CA7/CA11
INFORMAN

FORTRAN
SAS Programming
UNIX
Basic MVS / REXX
Microsoft Office

SAS Basics V5
C++
ENDEVOR
SYNCSORT
Control M/R

PERFORMANCE AWARDS
Air Force Commendation Medal
Certificate of Merit - Dept. of Agriculture
ACE Award - COMPANY
Commendation Award - COMPANY
(2) Star Award s - COMPANY
Five Star Award - COMPANY

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Internal Resume Sample 2

NAME
Street Home email
City, State, Zip Work email

Phone 1
Phone 2

SUMMARY
Skilled executive with broad-based background in senior-level management, leading to an Executive Vice
President position. Proven expertise in marketing communications, human resources and information
technology. Key strengths include operations management, extensive systems implementation, impactful
strategic planning and bottom-line results. Recognized for consistent success in creating order out of chaos
in start-up and turnaround situations.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
COMPANY, City, State

MONTH, YEAR-PRESENT

Executive Vice President, Corporate Services

YEAR-YEAR

Vice President, Human Resources

YEAR-YEAR

Led Human Resources, Marketing Communications and Information Technology teams for 900-person, $200
million in sales international manufacturer of water jet equipment with number one market position.
Created and implemented a complex strategic marketing communications plan, which identified new
market opportunities, established strong corporate identity worldwide and positioned the company to
maximize short and long term revenues.
Conducted a strategic assessment of international IT operations, resulting in an operating system upgrade,
standardization of hardware and software tools, stabilization of network, a process to prioritize IT projects
based on ROI and improved productivity for users.
Transformed the Human Resources Department to align functions with business goals and support
company with a 33% growth rate while saving $500,000 in the first year.
Designed and implemented worldwide employee cash bonus and incentive stock option program driven by
company profit targets, which linked individual and team goals to the companys success and resulted in a
95% goal achievement for YEAR.
Developed and implemented college recruiting and Graduate Rotation Program, which provided a
continuous pool of candidates to support the companys explosive growth in a tight labor market.
Created, facilitated and coordinated worldwide training program for 700 employees at 19 different
locations, which integrated nine acquisitions and supported culture change and move to team
environment.

COMPANY, City, State

YEAR-YEAR

Company Description (include a 1-2 line description about companies other than your current one)
Principal
Provided consulting services on change management, team development, executive
recruiting, quality improvement, human resources strategy and organizational structure.

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20

EMAIL

NAME
COMPANY, CITY, STATE

Page Two
YEAR-YEAR

Company Description (include a one line description about the company)

Director of Operations
Reported to President, managing all operations and staff of for-profit medical institute and not-for-profit asthma
foundation.
Responded to financial crisis by spearheading a business strategy, marketing plan and annual operating
budget, which turned around business on the verge of bankruptcy and was the vehicle for returning it to
profitability and funding future growth.

COMPANY, CITY, STATE

YEAR-YEAR

Company Description (include a one line description about the company)

Founded and managed consulting firm specializing in organization development, providing problem-solving
expertise to CEOs.
EDUCATION
Stanford University, Technology Executive Program, CITY, STATE
BA Communications Studies, Seattle University, CITY, STATE, Cum Laude
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Workforce Initiative CITY, Advisory Group, YEAR-YEAR
CITY School District Success Program, Student Mentor, YEAR-YEAR

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21

Last Words
So thats an overview of Creating Your Resume. As an internal candidate, your resume is every bit as
important as that of someone from the outside. Every company will have its own set of guidelines when
applying, but one of the first steps will almost assuredly be to provide your resume in a format that works
for your particular company.
Take a moment and consider this checklist.

Checklist for Creating Your Resume

After completing your resume, review it again. Make sure you can answer yes to all these questions:
Does your resume clearly define who you are and how you want to be perceived?
Does the design look professional?
Is a qualifications summary included so the reader immediately knows your value proposition?
Is all your contact information included and correct?
If your resume is longer than a page, does the second page contain a heading? Is the page break
formatted correctly?
Are accomplishments quantified by using numbers, percentages, dollar amounts or other concrete
measures of success?
Do accomplishment statements begin with strong, varied action verbs?
Is the information relevant to the hiring managers needs?
Does your resumes content support your career goal?
Is your resume rich with key words? Is it packed with appropriate buzzwords and industry
acronyms?
Is applicable additional information, such as awards and affiliations, included, while personal
information like marital status, age and nationality unrelated to the job target omitted?
Is the content flow logical and easy to understand?
Is your resume as perfect as possible, with no typos or spelling, grammar and syntax errors?

Lee Hecht Harrison, LLC. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced by photocopy or any
other means without written permission of Lee Hecht Harrison, LLC

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